Small Torah crown. Vienna, 1705.
Silver, repoussé, cut, pierced, and engraved (marked with Vienna city mark, along with the year 1705, maker’s mark (initials CZR = Caspar Zacharias Raiman, active in Vienna from 1692; an additional mark from Brno (Brünn) dated 1806/7); silver rivets; glass stones.
Early, small-sized Torah shield. Adorned with large floral repoussé patterns on back plate, and with a large crown and pair of columns fastened with screws (left column surmounted by its own little crown). Two colored glass stones attest to this Torah shield’s glorious past; they are placed in the middle of fancy disks in the form of flower petals, and judging from the numerous (roughly 20) small holes in the shield, it would appear that at some point in time it had been decorated with many such colored glass stones. At the center of the shield is a framed rectangular depression intended for displaying interchangeable plaques (missing). The item is suspended from three silver chains, joined together with an apical ring.
The collection of the Musée de Cluny, Paris, includes a Torah ark – particularly noteworthy for its small size and elegance – similarly the product of the silversmith Caspar Zacharias Raiman, dated ca. 1700-1709. The ark, measuring only 56 cm. in height, bears dozens of colored glass stones and decorative silver ornaments, precisely matching those on the Torah shield presented here. Additionally, both the Torah ark in the collection of the Musée de Cluny and the present shield are marked with identical silver marks, attesting to the fact that they were manufactured together to form a set. The present Torah shield and the aforementioned Torah ark are among the earliest Judaica items documented in Vienna. The present Torah shield and the aformentioned Torah ark are among the earliest Judaica items documented in Vienna. According to the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme, Paris (mahJ), where the Torah ark is kept today, it was likely used by Rabbi Samson Wertheimer (1658-1724), who served as the spiritual leader of Vienna’s Jewish community and was widely regarded as one of Europe’s most influential Jewish figures of the late 17th and early 18th centuries (the Torah scroll contained in the ark is tied with a "wimpel" inscribed with a dedication marking the occasion of the birth of one of the rabbi’s descendants). See: Le musée d'Art et d'Histoire du judaïsme, Paris (mahJ), item nos. D.98.04.125.1 CL (Torah ark; see here) and D.98.04.125.3 CL (the wimpel), with the ark and wimpel (and the Torah scroll associated with them) formerly belonging to the collection of the Musée de Cluny, Paris, item no. CL 12239 (also item no. 3 in the M. Strauss-Rothschild Collection; a relevant illustration appears in the collection catalogue dated 1878).
The bottom portion of the Torah shield contains a relatively small silver plaque set with rivets, with a dedicatory inscription in Hebrew, dated 5523 [1763]: "This is a gift of … Yisrael son of Rabbi Eliezer (?) son-in-law of Rabbi Sender (?) ‘gabbai tzedakah’ [congregational administrator (?)] with his wife Mme Haya, daughter of Rabbi Eliezer (?) Segal / of the holy congregation [of] Hotzplatz in Year 5523 [1763] …" Judging from this inscription, it appears that as a result of being transferred from Vienna to Moravia-Silesia in the latter half of the 18th century, this plaque, held in place by silver rivets, was added to the bottom portion of the Torah shield.
"Hotzplatz" – the place mentioned in the dedicatory inscription – is the name given to Osoblaha, known in German as Hotzenplotz, located today in the Czech Republic, near the Polish border.
The Library of Agudas Chassidei Chabad in Brooklyn, New York, is in possession of the manuscript of a Passover Haggadah dated 1760 (inscribed on vellum by the "sofer" [ritual scribe] Hayyim ben Asher Anshil of Kittsee) whose title page bears a handwritten dedicatory inscription highly reminiscent of the one near the bottom of the present Torah shield: "This Haggadah belongs to our master Davidi HeKatzin, the rabbi, Rabbi Yisrael son of Rabbi Eliezer (?) son-in-law of Rabbi Sender (?) ‘gabbai tzedakah’ [congregational administrator (?)] of the holy congregation [of] Hotzplatz in Year 5530 [1769-70] (?)" (see catalogue of the Library of Agudas Chassidei Chabad in Brooklyn, New York, Catalogue of Manuscripts, Card No. 1950).

Height: approx. 18 cm. Width: 11 cm. Height incl. chains: approx. 31 cm. Fair-good condition. Numerous glass stones and silver ornaments missing. No interchangeable plaques.

Exhibition: Geschichten von Gegenständen, edited by Eva Grabherr. Hohenems, Jüdisches Museum Hohenems, 1994, pp. 116-117.
For comparison, see also:
1. "Collection de Strauss, Description des Objets d'art Religieux Hébraïques", Poissy, 1878, No. 3.
2. Catalogue raisonné de la collection juive du Musée de Cluny, by Victor Klagsbald. Paris, 1981, No. 125.
3. Sotheby's, Jerusalem, May 5th-6th 1988, lot no. 70 (Torah Shield by the same maker).
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 051.001.023.
This Torah shield is documented on the Center for Jewish Art (CJA) website, item no. 37296.